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The Image of the Beast as a Parody of the Two Witnesses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

David Ray Johnson Open the ORCID record for David Ray Johnson [Opens in a new window]
David Ray Johnson*
Affiliation:
Regents Theological College, West Malvern Road, West Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 4AY, UK Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article will examine the parodic characterisation of the image of the beast (Rev 13.15) who mimics the two witnesses (11.3–12) from a literary perspective. There is evidence of this mimicry based on the appearance of the textual markers, εἰκών and πνεῦμα. This study will examine parody in relation to other parodic characterisations that appear in the Apocalypse.

Keywords

Apocalypseimage of the beasttwo witnessesmimicryparodyliterary
Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 344 - 350
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 For the most extensive study of ‘parody’ in the Apocalypse, see Campbell, G., ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean. Repérage, caractéristiques et cas témoin d'une approche parodique’, Études théologiques et religieuses 77.4 (2002) 491–516Google Scholar. See also Roloff, J., The Revelation of John (trans. Alsup, E.; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993; original German edition 1984) 155CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Laws, S., In the Light of the Lamb: Imagery, Parody, and Theology in the Apocalypse of John (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988)Google Scholar; Carey, G., Elusive Apocalypse (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1999) 150–4Google Scholar; Resseguie, J., The Revelation of John: A Narrative Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009) 183Google Scholar.

2 See Koester, C. R., Revelation (ABYC 38A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014) 578–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Koester has also explored similar literary devices in the Fourth Gospel: Koester, C. R., ‘Comedy, Humor, and the Gospel of John’, Word, Theology, and Community in John (ed. Painter, J., Culpepper, R. A. and Segovia, F. F.; St. Louis, MO: Chalice, 2002) 123–41Google Scholar. See also Miles, J. A., ‘Laughing at the Bible: Jonah as Parody’, The Jewish Quarterly Review 65 (1975) 168–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jemielity, T., Satire and the Hebrew Prophets (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992)Google Scholar; Marcus, D., From Balaam to Jonah: Anti-Prophetic Satire in the Hebrew Bible (BJS; Atlanta: Scholars, 1995)Google Scholar; Weisman, Z., Political Satire in the Bible (Atlanta: Scholars, 1998)Google Scholar. Cf. Quintilian, Inst. 10.1.93–4.

3 For an extended section on the ‘Christological Parody’, see R. Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (New York: T. & T. Clark, 1993) 431–41. See also J. Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed: A Narrative Critical Approach to John's Apocalypse (Leiden: Brill, 1998) 123–4. Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 41–42, adds that the present and future aspects, as well as the physical (animalistic) characteristics shared between the Lamb and the beast, also function as a parody. See too W. Foerster, ‘θηρίον’, TDNT (1965) iii.134–5; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation: Vision of a Just World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991) 83; F. J. Murphy, Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity, 1998) 303.

4 Contra Koester, Revelation, 572. This is not the only ‘divine passive’ that appears in the depiction of the beast from the sea: the sea beast was given a mouth, authority and the ability to make war and to overcome in 13.5, 7. While it is possible that these divine passives indicate that those actions of the beast are permitted by God because God is sovereign over the world, it is also possible that, since the dragon attempts to mimic the actions of the one on the throne, these ‘pseudo-divine passives’ appear to reveal the ways in which the dragon parodies the activities of God. So J. C. Thomas and F. D. Macchia, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016) 407 add, ‘In the light of this sovereign God's exclusive claim to creation, the dragon's attempt to mimic divine authority, divine ability to grant life, and divine right to receive glory in chapter 13 is nothing short of an effort to usurp the place of the Creator.’

5 E. Allo, L'Apocalypse (Paris: Lecoffre, 1921) 185; J. C. Thomas, The Apocalypse: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Cleveland, TN: CPT, 2012) 385; M. Archer, ‘I Was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day’: A Pentecostal Engagement with Worship in the Apocalypse (Cleveland, TN: CPT, 2015) 228–9.

6 Schüssler Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 83; R. Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) 34; Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 41–2; Resseguie, The Revelation of John, 183; Thomas, The Apocalypse, 384–5.

7 Allo, L'Apocalypse, 185.

8 G. B. Caird, The Revelation of Saint John (BNTC; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1966) 242.

9 Laws, In the Light of the Lamb, 42; O. Böcher, Kirche in Zeit und Endzeit: Aufsätze zur Offenbarung des Johannes (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1983) 96.

10 For studies that explore the historical context of the beast from the earth, see especially P. Duff, Who Rides the Beast? Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) 114; S. Friesen, ‘The Beast from the Land: Revelation 13:11–18 and Social Setting’, Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students (ed. D. Barr; Atlanta: SBL, 2003) 49–64.

11 Caird, Revelation, 172; G. E. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972) 183; G. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 707; C. S. Keener, Revelation (NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) 350–1; M. Reddish, Revelation (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2001) 257; G. Osborne, Revelation (BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002) 511; I. Boxall, The Revelation of St. John (BNTC; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006) 193; J. Mangina, Revelation (BTC; Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2010) 164.

12 M. Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John (MNTC; New York: Harper and Brothers, 1940) 252–6; Bauckham, Climax, 434–5; Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed, 127–9; J. L. Trafton, Reading Revelation: A Literary and Theological Commentary (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2005) 131–2; Koester, Revelation, 600. Roloff, Revelation, 161 suggests that the parody contrasts witnesses and messengers who proclaim Christ. See S. S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005) 345, who is unconvinced of this interpretation.

13 Contra P. Prigent, L'Apocalypse de Saint Jean (Geneva: Labor & Fides, 2000) 321 n. 2. So J. Sweet, Revelation (TPINTC; Philadelphia, PA: Trinity Press International, 1979) 214–16; G. R. Beasley-Murray, Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981) 207; M. Rissi, Time and History: A Study on the Revelation (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1966) 66–8; R. H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, [1977] 19972) 258 n. 20; R. Wall, Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991) 171–2; P. Richard, Apocalypse: A People's Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, [1995] 19982) 111; Thomas, The Apocalypse, 398; I. Paul, Revelation (TNTC; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018) 236–7. See also Foerster, ‘θηρίον’, TDNT iii.134, 216. O. O'Donovan, ‘The Political Thought of the Book of Revelation’, TynB 37 (1986) 81; M. E. Boring, Revelation (Interpretation; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2011) 156, comments: ‘It is the Satanic counterpart to and parody of the Holy Spirit at work in the churches, thought of especially as the Spirit that inspires prophecy.’

14 Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 510 considers the interpretative possibility that the two witnesses include parodic elements of the two beasts on the basis of the evidence of their resurrections from death (11.11, 12; 13.3, 14), the contrasting time periods of their activities (42 months and 1,260 days, 11.2, 3; 13.5), the universal involvement of humanity (11.5; 13.5) and the signs performed by the two witnesses and the beast from the earth (11.5, 6; 13.13).

15 Sweet, Revelation, 216; Paul, Revelation, 237. See D. Aune, Revelation 6–16 (WBC; Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1998) 762–3, regarding the practice of magic to bring an image to life in the ancient world.

16 Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 511.

17 Cf. John 16.14. Smalley, Revelation, 344.

18 Smalley, Revelation, 348.

19 The text in Rev 13 does not offer evidence that the signs and wonders performed by the beast from the earth are achieved via trickery, see Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 310. See Boring, Revelation, 161, who writes, ‘John never denies the reality of the impressive miracles worked by this beast, knowing in accord with biblical theology in general that the truth of faith is not proven or disproven by displays of miraculous power or the lack of it’.

20 Bauckham, Climax, 171.

21 Aune, Revelation 6–16, 609.

22 Caird, Revelation, 138; Wall, Revelation, 146; C. H. Giblin, ‘Revelation 11.1–13: Its Form, Function and Contextual Integration’, NTS 30 (1984) 433–59, at 444; Koester, Revelation, 510–11.

23 H. Kuhli, ‘εἰκών’, EDNT (1994) i.389, records that ten of the twenty-three appearances of εἰκών in the New Testament appear in the Apocalypse.

24 Aune, Revelation 6–16, 757 suggests that the two horns of the beast from the earth represent its subordination to the beast from the sea and the dragon; fewer horns equals less power. This interpretative option is not persuasive because the Lamb, who has seven horns, is not subordinate to the beast or dragon, who both have ten horns. The beast from the earth similarly shares in the authority of the dragon as does the beast from the sea (see 13.2, 12, 15).

25 So Sweet, Revelation, 215, who comments: ‘Its two horns are a parody of true witness (11:13). It looks like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon’ (emphasis original).

26 Boring, Revelation, 157.

27 Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 207; Wall, Revelation, 171; Campbell, ‘Un procédé de composition négligé de l'Apocalypse de Jean’, 511. See also Bauckham, Climax, 3 n. 9, who observes: ‘We should also notice that on all four occasions the phrase ἐν πνεύματι is in close proximity to the verb λαλέω (1:12; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9, 15). This seemingly ordinary word is reserved by John for special use with reference to revelatory speech (also used in 10:3, 4 [twice], 8; and for the satanic parody revelation in 13:5, 11, 15), just as he reserves the verb δείκνυμι for visionary revelation (1:1; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9, 10; 22:1, 6, 8)’ (emphasis original).

28 R. C. Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation (JPTSup 30; Dorset: Deo Publishing, 2006) 177. See also M. Jauhiainen, The Use of Zechariah in Revelation (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005) 90.

29 Cf. Zech 4.6. Bauckham, Climax, 163; Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation, 177–90.

30 Thomas, The Apocalypse, 404.

31 On the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses and the Spirit, see especially Waddell, The Spirit of the Book of Revelation, 177–83.

32 See Bauckham, Climax, 273, regarding Revelation 11 as a kind of parable.

33 Archer, ‘I Was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day’, 232, writes: ‘In marking his followers, the actions of the beast parody God's actions, and the community must engage in pneumatic discernment.’

34 D. deSilva, Seeing Things John's Way: The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2009) 201.

35 Smalley, Revelation, 348.

36 C. Rowland, Revelation (London: Epworth, 1993) 119.